Chapter 124 - Eric Earhart (2)

"I hear Jaeyeon gave you K."

"I really don't have any privacy, do I?" I said flatly, not particularly surprised.

"And you haven't played it yet."

"Why ask when you already know?"

Come to think of it, when I went to the game center, I'd run into the illegal transplant recipients this man had released for his own amusement. I narrowed my eyes at the not-so-pleasant memory.

"Speaking of which, do you enjoy that sort of amusement?"

Eric gave me a puzzled look. With a small sigh, I brought up what had happened. The clean-cut sexual deviant immediately caught my meaning.

"Ah, I was just going to bring that up myself."

"I'd like an explanation, too."

"An explanation? I don't think there's much to explain... I simply let them go that time, didn't I?"

The elder flexed his ankle and rolled his eyes upward. I leaned back against the hospital room wall and listened to his explanation, keeping track of Shashinsky and the blond agent standing in the hallway.

"Sometimes the urge just takes me, you see. I grant them a little salvation."

"Surely you could save them in a more conventional way."

"Well, that was simply what I felt like doing at the time."

Eric gave a long laugh.

"Sometimes I toss a single fork to those left behind bars. Don't you think I was more merciful than that?"

"Pardon?"

I didn't understand. Eric chuckled softly at my furrowed brows.

"It's better than being left behind bars without a single weapon, after all."

"... Are you saying you gave them a fork as a weapon?"

"I gave them hope."

He spoke amiably, his eyes curving into a smile.

"Anyway, that's not what's important."

I was too appalled to say anything. I just stared at him and let out a hollow laugh. A normal person's way of thinking would never make sense of this bastard anyway. I might as well hear him out.

Eric asked whether I remembered the game shop that had carried 'From E.' When I nodded silently, he reached into his inside jacket pocket and held out his phone. On its screen was the person I'd seen in the shop's CCTV footage: a figure with a hood pulled up and shoulders hunched.

I'd completely forgotten seeing that footage. As I blinked several times, Eric smiled and put his phone away.

"I'll find this person for you."

I stared at the man in the chair for a long while before asking slowly, "Who is that?"

"We'll know once we find them."

Huh?

"What... No, what does someone whose identity you don't even know have to do with uncovering my past?"

"You already know the shopkeeper put an enormous premium on 'FROM A,' I assume?"

"Yes. More than ten times the original price, apparently."

"He could have charged even more."

Eric flexed his ankle, sounding delighted.

"That's the only copy of FROM A left now."

"What?"

"That person destroyed all the others."

Huh?

My jaw dropped. The answer was so completely unexpected that I was speechless.

Wait.

Why...?

Who was this person?

"They bought up every copy on the market, one by one, and destroyed them."

"That person did?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I don't know either."

He smiled, narrowing his eyes.

"I'll find them so you can hear the answer yourself."

Then wouldn't that copy have been destroyed too?

The elder soon put my concern to rest. The final piece hadn't been destroyed, he said. I had no idea how he'd found out, but he had confirmed that the last remaining piece was stored in the vault of a bank famous for its tight security.

A bank vault?

This story was getting stranger by the minute.

"Well, if you'd prefer, I could retrieve the game instead of the person."

Eric said that alarming thing as casually as could be.

"But wouldn't finding the person be more entertaining?"

That settled the discussion for the time being. He would find someone I'd completely forgotten about and never paid much attention to. I also got him to promise not to use threats, violence, or any other coercive measures in the process.

Honestly, I wanted to ask him to just get the game out of the vault, but I couldn't bring myself to ask him to rob a bank. So for now, I settled for asking him to identify the suspicious figure.

... Well, he'd brought it up himself. He'd probably do a good job.

Eric left with an elegant smile.

* * *

I was discharged five days later. The clearance came around nine in the evening, and I quietly prepared to leave. Since it was late, I planned to make the rounds and say hello the next day.

It was embarrassing to wind up hospitalized every time I came back from a mission, too. I also wanted more time to sort out my feelings. I'd steeled myself, but the heavy guilt hadn't gone away.

For now, I should head back to the cabin...

Perhaps because night had fallen, the hallway was strangely quiet. I stepped slowly into the milky-white space, then froze at the bloodlust pouring over me.

"Ah."

There was a familiar face. I didn't know his name. I'd seen him exactly once at the Choi family's place, and never since. Back then, he'd stood beside Eric Earhart and given me a warning with a smile, without any particular malice. Now he was glaring at me with hatred in his eyes.

Why?

As my eyes widened, Shashinsky let out a deep sigh beside the man radiating bloodlust. Eric Earhart's agents. The red-haired man, pale as a vampire, apologized to me.

"I'm sorry."

He still looked exhausted.

"I'll keep him under control."

"... Good to see you. You're here sooner than I expected."

I'd thought it would be a long while before he showed up. I hadn't expected him back so soon.

After briefly greeting Shashinsky, I turned my eyes to their master. Eric was once again impeccably dressed in a light-colored suit. The navy coat over it suited him extraordinarily well.

Did he always dress this flamboyantly?

I suddenly felt tired.

"You look as if you've suddenly grown tired."

"How perceptive of you."

If he knew, I wished he'd leave.

"What brings you here this time? It doesn't look as though you've caught that person and dragged them here... And, um, have I done something wrong?"

The last question was directed at Eric's blond agent. The moment I finished asking, Shashinsky sighed. Eric burst out laughing.

"Don't mind him. It's only because you're my latest interest."

"Pardon?"

"That's how deep his affection runs."

He answered so casually that I got the impression he'd fielded this sort of question often.

"Affection is a weighty thing, after all."

I really hated this.

Was he saying I was the target of jealousy now?

This elder and his agent didn't have a normal relationship either. I'd thought the strangest relationship of all was the one between Jaeyeon, whose feelings swung wildly between loving and hating Colton, and Colton, who would never let Jaeyeon go. But these two didn't seem to have a dry, contractual relationship like Sukhoi and Seunghyeon either.

Having briefly failed to keep my expression in check, I barely recovered my composure and turned my head. He wasn't planning to keep showing up like this, was he?

"What can I do for you?"

"I heard you were being discharged. I came to give you a bouquet, at least."

"Oh, that's all right."

I refused reflexively.

"The visit alone is more than enough, thank you."

"Ha ha. You look as though you truly hate the idea."

Despite knowing full well, he shamelessly waved a hand. Shashinsky, wearing an expression that said he wanted to go straight home, produced a small bouquet, while the blond held out a neatly wrapped box.

This was driving me crazy...

"What's this?"

I reluctantly accepted the box, feeling that the blond might cut my head off if I refused. Eric smiled and thrust his hands into his pockets.

"Open it when you get back."

"... Yes. Thank you. Then, as you suggest, I'll be on my..."

"Mr. Earhart."

A familiar voice cut in.

Everyone turned. My eyes widened too as I took in the figures approaching from behind Eric Earhart. Three familiar people were walking toward us from the end of the hallway.

My training officer and Ami weren't that surprising, but what was the head of HR doing here?

"Do you need something from one of ours?"

And he was furious. I'd never seen the head of HR angry before, and it left me speechless. Kang Zhu approached Eric with a smile, but the disgust and irritation behind it were plain to see.

Even more surprising was the way Eric frowned when he turned and saw the head of HR. The two men, who I'd thought would always be smiling, looked at each other with loathing.

"Hilde must be tired enough as it is. I'd appreciate it if you kept your visits to a minimum."

"You're such a dull man, every time I see you."

Irritation seeped into Eric's voice too.

"Why don't you have your brain examined sometime? I suspect the results would be even more interesting than those of the man beside you."

"Why take a shot at me? I'm just standing here."

Yun's reply was flat. He looked Eric and his agents over with a sullen expression.

"What does our esteemed cult leader want with my junior?"

"A cult leader? I'm merely an ordinary foundation director. Besides, I'm not religious."

"I know perfectly well there are hordes of people praying to pictures of you they've put up like shrines."

Eric smiled at Yun. He seemed to have returned to his usual self. He didn't appear particularly fond of Yun, but apparently he didn't dislike him as much as the head of HR.

"To think you'd come to your junior's hospital room on your own just because he's being discharged. Whatever you might say, you seem quite fond of your trainee."

"I came with my little sister."

"Little sister?"

Eric's eyes went round. Surprise filled the elder's gray eyes as he asked, "You have a little sister?"

... She was standing right beside him.

But the sexually deviant elder apparently couldn't see Ami.

And this didn't seem to be the first time it had happened. Ami wasn't even surprised; she simply stared sulkily at the floor. Yun, too, looked as though he'd lost count of how often he'd given the same answer.

"Yes."

"How surprising. You really don't seem like someone who would have siblings."

"How does that man run a foundation when he's that stupid?" Ami muttered sullenly to herself.

"What an absolute idiot."

That was fucking hilarious.

Ami was so far removed from misery that she didn't register with Eric. He seemed to find Zhu and Yun dull for similar reasons. And Ami was so short she probably didn't even enter his field of vision.

I leaned against the wall and fought back a laugh. I felt bad for Ami, but the situation was funny. I was also glad that none of them counted among the people Eric took an interest in. Now I understood why Yehyeon had been pleased at the social gathering.

Eric and Zhu traded venomous remarks for a while, until Shashinsky, standing there like a shadow, mercifully interrupted with, "You need to leave now."

Eric nodded, then turned to me. "Until next time, then."

"Take care."

I didn't respond to the part about seeing him again.

The handsome, platinum-blond middle-aged man grinned and left, telling me I could contact him whenever I liked. Shashinsky gave a silent bow before following his master.

The blond agent lingered, watching me a little longer.

"His interest will move on to someone else soon enough."

At my sullen mutter, the youthful, pretty blond raised an eyebrow. Then he looked at me standing there sulkily and smiled.

"I'm not so sure about that."

It had better.

The band of sexual deviants vanished like shadows. As soon as I confirmed that they were out of sight, I turned.

"By the way, what brings you here, sir?"

"Oh, I came to give you some counseling."

Zhu smiled and got straight to the point.

"Something's seemed off about you lately."